1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an archery bowstring trigger with a safety lock to prevent premature, accidental release of the bowstring.
2. Description of Related Art
Devices for releasing bowstrings are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,968 describes a bowstring release device that includes a rotary, latchable member that can be released by a trigger. Horizontal movement of a vertical trigger releases the rotary latch under the influence of the tension of the bowstring.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,974 describes a horizontal release mechanism. The horizontal movement of the user's thumb against the trigger portion of the operating arm swings a catch out of engagement with the arm mechanism of the spring-biased bowstring holding member. Another horizontal release mechanism is described in U.S Pat. No. 4,567,875.
Other release mechanisms are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,509,497; 4,969,448; 4,232,649; 3,757,763; 4,612,907 and 4,332,233.
Some of the prior art patents also describe devices for limiting the length of the draw of a bowstring. For example, the purpose of the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,911 is to maintain a constant draw length during shooting. Other similar patents include U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,732; U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,765 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,016.
While bowstring release devices can be found in the prior art, the use of safety locking mechanisms in this context is generally not known.